Category: Theology
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who is your nemesis?
I don’t remember how we got off track, but about a month ago one of my class discussions took a brief detour on the value of having a theological nemesis. Batman had the Joker, Superman had Lex Luthor, and Spiderman had the Green Goblin, and so we wondered if our pastoral skills might be sharpened…
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reflections on THE resurrection
I encountered two significant mistakes this Easter season that cheapen and distort the resurrection of our Lord beyond recognition. I list them here in the hope that I never hear them again. 1. Emphasizing the Principle of resurrection over the historical Person who arose. Here’s the quote: “We are stuck with Jesus, and he won’t…
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marketing repentance
I’m sure that you have seen the new Tiger Woods’ television ad for Nike. The 30-second spot features Tiger staring into the camera as the voice of his late father Earl says: “Tiger, I am more prone to being inquisitive, to promote discussion. I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find…
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America’s finest
Last week I made the time to carefully read through George Marsden’s magisterial biography, Jonathan Edwards: A Life. This is an important book for pastors, especially those in America. It seems important to know the finest pastor-theologian that our country has ever produced. At risk of oversimplifying an engrossing 500 page story, here in random…
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this we believe
I have been researching and drafting confessions, and I’ve discovered a few surprises which I will share soon. But first I would appreciate any thoughts which you might have on this one. I wrote this for a nondenominational church which is baptistic and Calvinisticish. They wanted a concise, clear statement that their people would read…
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no free lunch
It is popular today to say that God didn’t need Jesus to die in order to forgive us. If God loved us so much why didn’t he merely wave his hand and say all was forgiven? What kind of vengeful Father would demand the blood of his innocent Son in order to forgive sinners? I…
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what a day
I was pleasantly surprised to read this concession which Brian McLaren posted on his website. While there remain many outstanding questions, perhaps not all is lost. Dear friends and sojourners: The publication of any book worth its salt brings a certain amount of blowback from those who have a vested interest in defending the traditional…
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no dog in this fight
Last Tuesday Nightline ran a special episode entitled, “Does God have a future?” It was a debate between New Atheists Sam Harris and Michael Shermer and New Agers Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston. The first group argued that science has disproved God while Chopra insisted that there was some life force that unites us all.…
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words matter
I’m in the middle of grading confessions, and my friend Chris Brauns just blogged on the grade that my mentor and predecessor, Joe Crawford, gave his first confession. Chris reminds us that precision is everything in theology (and anything else that matters), that we really don’t know what we believe until we can write it…
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respect
Here is my latest entry for Our Daily Journey. As always, any recommendations would be appreciated. I have a concern in the last paragraph, but I can’t find an easy way to fix it. So if something bothers you there, give me an idea on how to improve it! read > 1 Chronicles 11:10-19 So…
Mike Wittmer 